Broken Dreams
by CF-fanfiction
Summary: When Sonic wakes up in a GUN base, injured and confused, he is horrified to realise that his friends tried to kill him. But all is not as it seems... :COMPLETE:
1. Only the beginning

Chaos: Finally up! You can stop throwing rocks at my house! ...except for yugioh fans. You continue. Anyway, here we go. This is a prologue only and, now that this is actually uploaded, I'm gonna have to upload every week if I can. (sob sob) Well, merry christmas one and all! (grin)

Flower: FESTIVE SPIRIIIIIIIT!!!

Chaos: Oh...yeah. I forgot about you. Noooooo...!! Upload now!!

Flower: Hey, wait, I want to talk some more!

Chaos: (dives for the upload button)

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sonic awoke slowly, his vision blurry. He was lying spreadeagled on a bed, in a white room. Someone was leaning over him, frowning. "What's goin' on?" he groaned, squinting. The man spoke quietly,

"Ah, you've finally woken up. You've been here three days now...this is New Island, the GUN base."

"GUN?!" Sonic yelped, suddenly much more awake.

"No, it's ok. We're terribly sorry about the Project Shadow mix-up. Anyway...do you remember what happened? We found you washed up on the shore, cut all over...you won't be able to move for a while, we're still healing you."

Sonic frowned and turned his head away, forcing his brain to work. Then suddenly the scenes were flashing past his eyes, like some kind of horror movie. Sweat broke out on his forehead and his eyes widened in shock.

"No... no... not Tails... not Amy! They... they..." Sonic moaned quietly, shutting his eyes. But it had to be; it was there in his memories. He turned back to the GUN officer, who was watching him with a worried expression.

"Was it your FRIENDS?" he asked, sounding horrified. Sonic stared dumbly past him; something seemed to have caught in his throat and all he could do was gasp, his mind completely rejecting the memories.

"Are you ok, Sonic? I realise it must be very shocking to find that your friends have-"

"Go...just go..." Sonic muttered. When the officer hesitated, he shouted, "GO!" The man quickly left the room, and Sonic turned his head away. He couldn't believe it; how could his friends... his _friends_! ...do this to him?

And GUN... they were being so understanding. Everything was mixed up! Since the ARK incident he had heard nothing from them, knowing only that Prison Island was being rebuilt on a different island further away from Station Square.

They were being nice, kind to him... but he hated it. He was going to be stuck in this bed for god-knows-how-long, barely able to move, and... _oh god, Tails... why'd you do it?!_ He bit his lip and swallowed, a lump in his throat.

He remembered the picnic at the cliffs. Everybody was there; Shadow, Rouge, Cream, even Knuckles, and Tails and Amy, naturally. Everything had been fine, nice, they had all been laughing. Ah, except for Shadow. The sun was shining, seagulls crying mournfully as they swooped through the sunbeams, like in one of those romantic films. Then, suddenly, they turned on him. Amy had been talking to him at the cliff edge, and then suddenly grabbed his arm.

He wriggled in surprise, and then Tails had walked up, grinning. He had taken Sonic's other arm and laughed out, "Goodbye, Sonic! You'll pay for hurting us all!" and Amy was laughing too, everybody was, and he wasn't struggling properly, he didn't realise what was going on. Then Tails and Amy had swung him away, over the cliffs, and he had fallen down helplessly, crashing against the rock walls, to the blue crystalline waters, screaming their names, and...

...and then everything was blank.


	2. Slipping away

Chaos: Wow, this is my first update since christmas. (nervous laugh) I went into a real slump. Couldn't do anything... except for play on all my new games, hehehe. Anyway, I'd better hurry up with this before somebody remembers where I live. (hides behind computer)

Flower: Note! This fic does get pretty violent. Please don't prosecute! (hides)

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Dragonmaster Kyra - Thanks! Glad you think so. It seemed more angsty than sweet to me, hehehe. I'll try and get round to looking at your stories... everybody asks me to read stuff all of a sudden. My brain hurts! (grin, sweatdrop)

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SallytheRabbit - Yay! I hope you like the rest of this as much.

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N. Harmonik - Heehee, I like the second one better. GUN make such good baddies, i could use them in every story! (cackles)

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Az - Yes, the rewritten end... (shifty eyes) Because I've been working on that all the time... (cough)

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Spawn of 84 - (waves) Hi again! Glad you like this.

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Shade-the-hedgehog - Whoops, I was writing your name and accidentally put shadow-the-hedgehog. Strange. (shifty eyes) Anyway, yes, something very wrong. Heheh. What d'you expect in one of my stories?

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SonicRules12 - Ack, you were looking at the previews?! I wonder how many people were... I really should get around to deleting them. Hrmm. Anyway, I hope this lives up to your expectations.

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KiumuRo-Ku-Bee - Tear-jerking is my speciality. Ask the reviewers! (grin)

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NM - Hahaha, good review. Have you finished reading it yet? What d'you think of the ending - is Az right and I need to change it?

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Kirbs - (squeal) Hi again! Your idols?! Ack! You're making me paranoid! (grin) Thanks for the niceness.

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Tarem - Ooh, thankees! You make me happy! I'll try and... err... update more often. (sweatdrop)

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Mitsuka - (glomp) I'm updating! Don't be sad! You know how I love to torture Sonic.

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Treasurehunter - Yay, a fellow Sonic-killing fan! I swear I'll kill him one of these days... if it wasn't for the thought of the flames, I probably would have done it long ago. (cackles)

Flower: Woah, that's a lot of reviews for one chapter! (dazed) Uh, well, anyway, the next chapter... at last. (wink)

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Outside, the officer withdrew his ear from the door. "He's crying." he stated to the rest of the people. A scientist stepped forward, and asked,

"So, you think the memory replacement went properly?"

"It certainly sounds like it...he was completely shell-shocked."

"Do his friends know where he is?" a solider asked.

"No, they believe he's gone travelling again. Our agents have reported that they are acting normally."

A second scientist stepped forward, and asked, "Sir, betrayal is a risky thing. How do we know for sure that he will turn on them?" Another scientist replied,

"Ah, we have developed this drug," he held up a syringe, "It contains traces of Chaos Energy; it deteriorates memories and can cause extreme confusion among emotions. It also leads to the development of irrational anger after a period of time. If we use it, and keep assuring him of what happened, he will easily turn against them."

"Great," the officer said with a grin, "Now we persuade him to hate them, and blam! We get rid of Sonic, and all his friends...," as the people drifted away, he continued quietly to himself, "We recover our dignity at last! When Sonic disappears, and GUN saves everyone from this Dr. Eggman person...we will be honoured. And especially me." he grinned and cast a look at the door that held all their hopes.

He would not fail.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

__

three weeks later

Sonic rose from the bed, suddenly stumbling on legs that had been still for too long. The officer, Avery, outstretched an arm to support him. "Thanks," Sonic said, nausea making his head spin. He swallowed hard and tried to steady himself.

"You should be ok, now," Officer Avery said, "I understand you want to leave immediately?" Sonic nodded, eyes hard. He had run over the memory time and again, searching for any way for his friends to redeem themselves, but nothing was different. It just seemed to get harder to remember the details, every time he awoke; the doctors said he was blanking it from shock, and warned what would happen if he forgot and returned to his 'friends'; they could easily turn on him again.

They had turned on him...why, why, why?! The hurt was bad, but the anger was worse. It grew all the time, almost making his head hurt sometimes, until he was shocked by the potency of it.

All this time they had acted like friends! It seemed almost impossible. He must have hurt them somehow and...it was lost in confusion. He had spent the first nights crying out his sorrow and betrayal, but now he was going to get revenge. Before they discovered he was alive and turned on him again.

He spent that day recovering his energy, training in a room that GUN provided, along with spare bots. It was amazing how kind they were being to him, but he was not for one moment suspicious.

The next day he thanked Avery, assured him that he would be fine, and left to seek out his former friends. He did not notice the Retrieval Squad boarding the boat before him. When they reached the shore, soon after, Sonic stood alone by the railing, staring at the slow-moving water, feeling empty inside and wishing that nothing had happened.

Avery walked up to him as the boat stopped, and said, "Now, if you ever need a place to stay..." Sonic nodded, and then suddenly burst away in a rush of wind that left the boat rocking. No Sonic Boom followed; Sonic's strength had not fully returned.

Still, it took only a few hours for him to reach Station Square. Then he walked up to Tails' house, almost spooked by how normal everything seemed; it was as though nothing had happened and he was just visiting his friend.

No. Ex-friend. He paused over the doorknob, and then backed away. He looked through the window, almost doubtfully, when he saw Tails dozing in an armchair.

He didn't care that he had 'killed' his friend. No guilt, no doubt. He looked about as relaxed as you could get.

He didn't care didn't care _didn't care_.

Sonic's head was spinning, that strange anger rising again.

An instant later he smashed the door down, spines ripping easily through the wood. It fell away with a bang and he uncurled, feeling slightly dizzy. It only heightened his rage. Tails dashed into the hallway, looking around almost fearfully.

Scared? Good.

Tails saw him and chirped. "Sonic!" Before he could do anything else Sonic kicked him into the wall with a loud crash. Outside some birds chirped, and the sun shone peacefully. It showed nothing of the turmoil inside.

"Murderer!" Sonic yelled at Tails.


	3. Crescendo

Chaos: Look! Look! I updated! And... well, as I said, this is chapter is _violent_. Probably the worst of the lot, and I wrote it _ages_ ago... (shudder) I've just been through and edited it somewhat, I hope they're all more in-character now. Thanks for being patient, everyone! And apologies for the chapter mix-up... for some reason fanfiction stuck the same story into two different updates... anyway, it's fixed now!

Flower: I'm glad so many people seem to like this overly-violent stuff. I should try it more often! Though... the characterization is impossible. How do you make Sonic attack his best friends and remain... well... Sonic? Well, I tried; I must be crazy! (grin) Review responses!

Chaos: NOTE! This time I got lots of reviews simply saying, UPDATE NOW! And, voila, it works, but there's not much I can reply to, so I'll be leaving those out. No offence.

N. Harmonik - Uh... lots of times. Sadly. But, I'm trying to make my plots more complex, now that I've gotten a bit of experience. As for _your_ story... cool! I like it! (thumbs-up)

Uh... lots of times. Sadly. But, I'm trying to make my plots more complex, now that I've gotten a bit of experience. As for story... cool! I like it! (thumbs-up)

SoMe fan and dude - I admit it would be interesting if Tails died... in _fact_, I could write a very interesting... wait, no! Stick to original plot, brain! Hehe, and sorry that this took so long to get uploaded.

I admit it would be interesting if Tails died... in , I could write a very interesting... wait, no! Stick to original plot, brain! Hehe, and sorry that this took so long to get uploaded.

SallyTheRabbit - Well, err, he's not exactly dead yet. (sweatdrop) Don't be so hopeful! (grin)

Kirbs - Yes, new story... very pretty... (drool) ... uh, brain back in gear! I like it. Update! And here, I've updated this, so now it's _your_ turn!

Yes, new story... very pretty... (drool) ... uh, brain back in gear! I like it. Update! And here, I've updated this, so now it's turn!

Tarem - Indeed, what were GUN thinking? Do we want to know? (gulp) Anywho, here's the next chapter, though GUN practically doesn't appear at all. Which could be a relief, I guess. (grin)

Kai the Tiger - Indeed. My weekly update system seems to have collapsed... ah, well. I'll try and be more regular... (grovel) ... Enjoy the next chapter!

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Murderer!" Sonic yelled at Tails.

"W-what?" Tails said dizzily, as a little rain of plaster dust fell on his head from the cracked wall. He shook his head weakly to clear it, trying to work out if he was dreaming, still asleep in his armchair.

Sonic growled, stepping forward. Tails looked even more confused, ears drooping, fur ruffled.

"Murderer!" Sonic hissed as he grabbed Tails by the throat. The fox struggled weakly, spluttering,

"No, Sonic... I'm not!"

"You tried to kill me!"

"No, no, I didn't! Never!" Sonic hurled Tails onto the floor and kicked him, hard.

"I don't want to listen to your lies!"

Tails curled up, crying, "Sonic, _please-_!"

Sonic kicked him again, and then picked him up by the scruff of the neck. Tails dangled limply, sniffing. Sonic glared at him in disgust, and then hurled him into the opposite wall with a crash.

The fox slid down into a heap on the floor, sobbing. "Does it hurt?" Sonic hissed, stepping forward. Tails nodded weakly, tears streaming down his cheeks as he tried to struggle to his feet.

"Good!" Sonic spat, as he punched Tails in the jaw. The vulpine huddled down, a thin trickle of blood running down his chin. Sonic grabbed his wrist and hauled him up.

"Why don't you fight back!" he yelled in Tails' face as the fox dangled before him.

"I d-don't want t-to." Tails stammered, gazing fearfully at the hedgehog and frantically wondering what on earth had happened.

"Why not?" Sonic's voice became quieter, deadlier.

"I don't want to h-hurt you..." Sonic leant forward until their faces were practically touching. Then he whispered,

"You couldn't possibly hurt me more than you already have."

There was an odd light in his eyes, pupils dilated more than usual; the unnatural anger had taken over, rationality lost in its void. He backed away slightly, not relinquishing his grip, and gestured down at himself, where several long ugly scars ran across his body, from the 'fall'.

"This is all your fault!" the hedgehog spat, "All your FAULT!"

Tails shut his eyes and let the tears trickle from under his eyelids, no longer caring. Something had happened to Sonic, and he couldn't do anything to help him. He could just wait for it to end.

Sonic's eyes narrowed a little in confusion; Tails was not acting as he would have expected him to. His doubt was mingling with that anger that didn't feel right, and his head began to hurt. He grimaced, thoughts becoming confused.

Then the door of Tails' house creaked open. Sonic swung round, dragging Tails along the carpet. In the doorway stood Amy Rose.

The pink hedgehog looked forward, and then cried, "Sonic! Where have you _been_!" Her eyes travelled past him past him and she froze, turning deathly white. Her thoughts flashed over the scene, reached an inevitable conclusion, and stuck. Sonic would _never..._

Then Sonic dropped Tails and barrelled into her, knocking her to the floor. She shrieked and flung her arms over her face instinctively for protection, to have Sonic kick her in the side.

Her head snapped to therightso hard she nearly got whiplash. She tasted copper on her tongue, and realised her lip was bleeding. Her head was spinning with confusion and she could barely register what was happening. "Sonic, what're you-"

"So, come to help _your_ friend, have you?" Sonic hissed, gesturing to Tails. Amy stared at him with wide eyes, confused.

"What's going o-" She was cut off as Sonic grabbed her by several quills and hauled her into the air. She whimpered in pain, suddenly realising that something was very, very wrong.

Sonic threw her down next to Tails, whose eyes were shut, tears trickling down his cheeks. She couldn't tell whether or not the vulpine was actually conscious. She lightly touched his shoulder and he uncurled a little, his whispers becoming audible,

"All my fault...all my fault..."

Then Sonic grabbed her quills again and smashed her face into the wall. Her world spun, colours dancing. She tried desperately to focus, as she was spun round and pressed against the wall at Sonic's eye level, his hand firmly round her neck. Her feet dangled a little above the ground.

Tears were streaming from Sonic's eyes, but he was glaring so fiercely through them that she flinched, his gaze like green fire. He yelled in her face, "Why? Why did you want to kill me! What did I ever _do to you_!"

She shut her eyes, terrified, and whimpered, "Sonic, I never-" He slammed a fist into the wall, not an inch from her left ear. She immediately fell silent, panting as Sonic's grip tightened further. Sonic lowered his head and shut his eyes, sobbing brokenly, and silence fell upon them.

Then the anger overflowed and he suddenly swung round and flung her at the opposite wall. She screamed, but could still hear his howl of, "_I hate you_!" before she crashed into the wall. She was out before she even hit the ground.

"_I hate you, I hate you all_!" Sonic screamed as he hurled away whatever his hands fell upon. A vase, a small gadget, a clock, two plates, a glass, a radio, they crashed into the walls deafeningly.

The Sonic broke down and dashed from the house as fast as he could, off and away.

Silence fell again. The sun continued to shine, the birds continued to sing, and the wrecked interior of the house was oddly peaceful. Dust motes danced serenely in the air, thrown up by Sonic's passing. Shadows flickered in an odd kaleidoscope across the carpet, cast by the swaying branches of a tree outside.

A few leaves danced through the doorframe and over the shredded door. Amy lay motionless by one wall, Tails curled into a ball in the shady corner opposite her, endlessly whispering,

"All my fault...all my fault..."

Five minutes later the GUN retrieval team arrived.


	4. Turning Point

**Chaos: **Ok, this is a huge chapter, for the Mass Easter Update. Yay me! Five pages! Sorry about how mean Sonic is at the moment, we get to see more of his thoughts now. Don't kill me yet! (hides)

**Flower: **And thanks for all the reviews! I've got an average review count to rival Silver Lining… hooray! Now if I can just get added to one more favourites list I'll be on fifty… (laughs maniacally)… um, I mean, ignore that… review responses!

**Super Metal Sonic – **New reviewer! (glomp) Err, I mean… sorry, I'm prone to go crazy over getting new reviewers. I'm glad you like it so far!

**Kirbs – **Long time no see! I guess I haven't updated in a while… (shifty eyes) As for the story thingummy… the Five Stages, duh! I need to knooooow!

**N.Harmonik – **Ooh, ooh, I know… Greedy Useless Nitwits! Your turn again! (grin)

**Tarem – **Tan-tan-ta-raa! A five-page chapter! Come on, you can't complain to that… (pleading look)

**Spawn – **Did you change your name? Anyway… yay, glad you think so.

**Yume Keki – **Oh, it gets scarier. At the end. Which is about ten chapters away… (shifty eyes)

**SonicRules12 – **Oh, nonono, I wrote this about six months ago- (Had to think about that one… aargh, I wrote this ages ago!) -and I didn't mean to copy from you. If I did… did I? As for the plot… it gets better. In my opinion. (shifty eyes)

**Rockchick1 – **Yeah, I just love messing with Sonic's head! (grin)

**Shade-the-Hedgehog – **Well, I guess if it was all completely unpredictable people would get scared and forget stuff… still, you're right, this is a little predictable. For the moment. Not giving anything away, though! (I hope)

**Celestial – **(nervous laugh) Stop, you're embarrassing me! It isn't that great… but I'm glad you like it so much!

**SoMe fan and dude – **Am I a character sadist! Look at what I just wrote! (laugh) Anyway, I normally only do one story at a time, but I figured people would enjoy a wider choice. Most of the stories are finished already – it's finding time to update that's the problem. (sigh)

**Kai the Tiger – **Aaw, but cliff hangers are so much fun to write! They're my trademark. Along with the angst, the violence, the character torture…

**SallytheRabbit – **That's what I figured, but I wasn't sure if anybody else would agree, which is why I didn't post it for so long…

**The Mouse of Anon – **Nice name. Yeees, kill GUN! Well… not in this story. Not yet. Aargh! I'm giving away too much! (hides)

**oracle apprentice – **Aaw, thanks! You're the first person to say that! (grin) I'll try and update more.

**Midnight – **Yes, my Sonic is pretty violent… I wonder what he'd do if he found out what I'm going to do to him… (shudders)

**Animefangirl – **Well, I've updated both this and Silver Lining at once, and both bumper chapters! You should be happy… you are, right?

**Chaos: **So… many… reviews… I'm so happy! Thanks, and Happy Easter to you all!

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Far off, sitting on a flat rock, Sonic hid his face in his hands, elbows resting on his knees, and sobbed quietly.

He almost couldn't bear to hurt his friends, but what they had done to him...why oh why did they try to kill him? Why, why, why! The anger had left, for the moment, leaving him feeling hollow inside.

He had no friends, suddenly many more enemies, and nothing to do.

No, wait.

He had something to do. He had to find the others... they had all wanted to kill him. They would know he was alive now... why did they suddenly turn on him? What did he DO to make them so angry! He couldn't remember the events beforehand, could barely even remember the cliff now.

His desolation overcame him and he wept harder.

An hour later he ran out of tears. He got up stiffly; he would find the others, and deal with them. THEN he would decide what to do next. He knew already that Angel Island was nearby; it passed over every couple of months. He cast around the sky hopefully and, sure enough, saw a small black dot in the distance.

He stretched, took a deep breath, and then raced towards it.

Shadow had been journeying for a while, from place to place, endlessly surprised by what he saw. Earth was so...big. But, he had decided to return to Station Square now, and see what was happening to the others. Sonic would no doubt be off on another adventure – which he would prefer, as the blue hedgehog seemed to love taunting him whenever he got the chance – but he could drop by at Club Rouge and see how the bat was doing.

He was rounding one of the last hills at a steady 105 miles an hour, grass swishing past in a streak of green, when he saw the blue blur that was Sonic. He moved to the side, intending to breeze past; he did not intend to get dragged into an argument, though it looked as though Sonic was pretty focused – from the straight course he was travelling – and he might be able to slip past.

The blue streak moved to intercept him and he gritted his teeth in annoyance, but slowed down. There was no use trying to run now; Sonic would follow him for hours, just for the fun of it, matching his speed, racing ahead and trying to trip him up.

Perhaps he could just get it over with quickly.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sonic almost shuddered to himself, and thought, _do it quickly. Get it over with, and everything'll be ok_. The anger was rising, though at the same time he felt miserable. It was almost as though the anger wasn't his... no, but that was stupid.

Shadow was slowing down. Good, he could finish it quickly. He sped up, trying to pick up on Shadow's emotions. Angry? Surprised? Worried? No, he just looked mildly annoyed. It was almost as if he thought he and Sonic were merely associates, still. It was like he had never grinned in the background as they swung him over the edge...

That part of the flashback was suddenly very clear, and the anger flooded him, drowning out all other feeling. He hurtled forward; saw realisation dawn on Shadow's face, just before he leaped forward, foot outstretched in a sliding kick.

In a second Shadow was gone, and he cursed. Damn, he was fast... why did he have to make it so difficult! He spun round in mid-air, struggling to change direction at the high speed he was travelling.

Fortunately surprise was still on his side, as Shadow paused to stare disbelievingly at him; the kick had been a deliberate attempt to harm, not just another attempt at annoying him. Sonic managed to skid to a stop and hurtled towards the hedgehog in the same movement.

With a crack his foot shot into Shadow's chest. He grimaced as pain shot up to his knee, but swung a fist round the second he landed. This double-attack was more than Shadow could handle, and he crashed to the floor.

Sonic leapt forward, hands outstretched, to have Shadow grab onto them in mid-air. He dropped, his feet on either side of Shadow's chest, as he pushed down and Shadow pushed away, their hands interlocked.

"Sonic, what on earth are you doing!" Shadow yelled, eyes slanting into an offended glare. Sonic ignored him, trying to push down harder. The anger gave him strength, and he was crushing Shadow to the floor.

He pushed down as hard as he could, driving his and Shadow's fists onto the black hedgehog's neck. Shadow began gasping for breath, still trying push him away. Sudden anger flared in his eyes; was Sonic trying to kill him? What was wrong with him? This wasn't just a match; Sonic was truly trying to hurt him.

Then he managed to swing his legs under, and kicked up hard into Sonic's stomach. Sonic was thrown back, hands still entwined with Shadow's, pulling them both to their feet. Shadow leaned forward, trying to stop Sonic from pushing him over again, and they were face-to-face.

"Sonic," he ground out, "What's gotten into you?" For the first time, Sonic replied, and spat,

"You tried to kill me!"

"What?" Shadow said, surprise flooding him and throwing off his focus. Sonic took advantage of the moment to press forward, and Shadow stumbled. As he lost his balance, Sonic placed one foot forward and swung back.

The black hedgehog went sailing over his shoulders with a cry of surprise. He landed with a thud on the grass, breath knocked away and too surprised to retaliate, and then something smashed hard into the back of his head and the world spun away into darkness...

Sonic held the rock over the unconscious Shadow's head again. It would be so easy... so why couldn't he kill him! Something he had said... and Tails and Amy... they had been so surprised... but the memory was so clear... but... but...

"Auuuuuugh!" he yelled in frustration, trying desperately to clear his mind. He dropped to his knees by Shadow's side, tugging his ears in frustration. His thoughts were too scrambled; something was seriously wrong here, with him... that anger was so unnatural...

Somebody's voice echoed in his head suddenly, as though by a godsend, "You've been here three days now..." The GUN officer had said. He knew that GUN did those strange experiments... suddenly everything started to click.

"Oh... God..." he whispered, suddenly recalling what Tails had said once. The vulpine was explaining about how Shadow's memory had been damaged when he was unfrozen, and he thought that perhaps GUN had meddled with it. He started talking about new technology and advances in science and Sonic had grown bored... but the thoughts remained.

But which of his memories were real! And what on earth was that anger that kept overriding his senses? He couldn't tell... had his friends really tried to kill him? The memory was so vivid, and all the other memories were fading... and he had the scars...

He was hyperventilating without realising, shock taking over. Then a shadow fell across him and he looked up automatically. The huge bulk of Angel Island was passing, far overhead.

He jumped up suddenly; Knuckles could help him! The anger was gone, but it would be back... he had to reach him quickly! But... how could he get up there? The island was passing incredibly quickly for something so large.

"KNUCKLES!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, knowing it was useless. Suddenly he remembered soaring up to the island, on the wings of a blue plane...

Within seconds he had reached Station Square again... he had even managed to break the sound barrier in his desperation; his thoughts were starting to scramble again. He ran straight to Tails' Laboratory, and managed to wrench open the plane hanger doors.

In seconds he had leaped into the main seat of the Tornado 2. A huge array of controls spread before him; Tails had changed the design a lot since the Tornado had been destroyed.

Frantically he jabbed at the controls, and the plane suddenly rocketed forward, sending him head-over-tail into the back seat. He scrambled forward quickly and grabbed at the only lever, yanking it down.

In a second the plane shot into the air, engines screaming at the harsh treatment. He jabbed at several more buttons, and managed to get the plane straightened out, and pointed towards the fast-approaching island.

Knuckles was pacing around the shrine, on the lookout. He was nearing Station Square and sometimes that bat girl would sneak onto the island, after the Emerald, just for old times sake. This was not amusing.

So, it was that he immediately saw the thick plume of black smoke that was the Tornado. It shot over the north edge of the island, engines howling in deafening protest, and he almost didn't recognise it. It curved forward, and then suddenly down to crash into the forest in a burst of flame.

With a yell of surprise and anger he vaulted down the steps and jumped into a glide towards the forest. The land blurred by beneath him, the wind on his side, and soon he broke off and dropped elegantly through the treetops into a leafy clearing.

No sooner had he landed then a rush of blue fur crashed into him. He fell backwards in surprise, cursing his forgetfulness in entering without checking the area, and then was suddenly hauled upwards by his shoulders. Sonic's fur was ruffled the wrong way, full of soot, and his eyes were wild.

Knuckles was more than a little shocked.

"Knuckles, when was the last time you came down to land!" Sonic asked desperately. Knuckles managed to stutter through his amazement,

"F-four months ago. At Christmas." He was completely unnerved by the blue hedgehog, who was normally so composed, and he barely knew what to do. Sonic eyes were rolling slightly, pupils far too dilated.

"No... no...," he muttered, "Not now... not here," Then his gaze switched back to the echidna, "Knuckles, you gotta help me! It's GUN, t-they've done something to me...for god's sake HELP ME!" He yelled suddenly, shaking Knuckles by the shoulders.

"SONIC!" Knuckles thundered, suddenly finding his feet and towering over the hedgehog. Sonic dropped to hands and knees, panting as he tried to pull himself together.

"S-Sorry...it's GUN...I dunno, they've done something...I keep getting so angry. My m-memory's going...Knuckles, help me!" he looked up pleadingly.

Knuckles tried vainly to hide his horror, and backed away a step, letting his judgement take over...a healing plant of some kind, that was what was needed. He muttered, "Stay here." and then dashed away.

His thoughts were in turmoil. What was so bad that Sonic would have piloted the Tornado, all by himself, up to island, to beg for his help? Sonic rarely willingly asked Knuckles for help, and never begged him for anything! He had enough pride to do something stupid, rather than that.

Knuckles quickly found the right plant, and dashed back. Sonic was kneeling right where he'd left him, shuddering and hugging himself. His eyes were glazed over slightly, and when Knuckles approached he didn't look up.

"Eat this," Knuckles said, proffering the green-and-white plant, "It'll make you better...I hope."

Sonic's head snapped up and he glared straight at Knuckles, eyes filled with hate. "Why should I! You tried to kill me!" he suddenly yelled, pupils staring straight past the echidna.

_Calm_, Knuckles thought to himself, _be calm, it's just whatever drug GUN gave him, that's not really Sonic talking, he's_- his thoughts were cut off suddenly as Sonic dived forward with a scream of rage, trying to get his hands around Knuckles' throat.

Knuckles let out a choked gargle as Sonic's hands locked round his neck, cutting off his air supply. Sonic's eyes blazed unnaturally into Knuckles' own as the echidna struggled.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" the hedgehog screamed, attempting to bash Knuckles' head against the floor. Knuckles lost his temper and lashed out at the hedgehog, spiked knuckles creating a large gash diagonally across his face.

Sonic took no notice, bashing his head harder and harder against the earth, and his vision was swimming dizzyingly. His hands dropped to his sides, no longer responding, and just as he knew he would pass out he saw Sonic's eyes widen in sudden realisation...


	5. Background Information

**Chaos: **I'm alive! It's a miracle! (sigh) Yes, I was too lazy to do anything for the last month… or two… Well, I've updated at last, and I really don't like this chapter… but anyway, review responses!

**Celestial – **Ahh, thanks! Yes, Sonic is being a bit of an idiot, isn't he?

**N.Harmonik – **Hnn, that could be a hard one to beat… how about this; Gurgling Unintelligent Newts! Your go…

**Shade – **Err, well, thank you! I'm glad you like it that much!

**SonicRules – **Thanks, I'm often berated for my plots being boring… it's nice to know that this one isn't so bad!

**Shadow-chao – **It is, isn't it? Thanks a lot!

**Animefangirl – **Indeed, that's what Knuckles may have to do… (nervous laugh)

**DNAngel7 – **I am pretty mean to those two – they don't even get that big of a part…

**Bowtocicierega – **It was pretty poorly phrased – you're the only one to have noticed, I think! Thanks anyway.

**Crayn the Echidna – **Wow, I'm getting so many new reviewers! Thanks a lot, I like being called a good writer. (grin)

**Wouldn't you like to know – **Naw, I love your pen name! (grin) And long reviews are the best, keep them coming!

**Tarem – **Suspense, I think, is the best ingredient a story can have. It keeps people reading. Don't you agree?

**Narcotic squirrel – **Hold my manga hostage? You wouldn't dare! I'd… I'd torture you with pictures of Darky for all eternity! (laughs in a deranged manner)

**Kai – **But cliffhangers are my specialty! People wouldn't like my stories without them! And yes, still twisted. The corkscrews haven't found me yet. (laugh)

**Kirbs – **Never give up on a story because you aren't getting reviews! That's just silly! (having said that, I removed one of mine the other day for the same reason) (cough)

**Forgotten Muse – **Oh, I like the new name! (thumbs-up) And I'm glad you still like this!

**SallytheRabbit – **I know, isn't he just? (grin) Why do you think I write him insane?

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Knuckles... wake up, Knuckles..."

Knuckles slowly groaned and opened his eyes a crack. Sonic was crouching over him mournfully, eyes full of shame, face bloody. Knuckles slowly sat up, clutching his aching head. It was splitting in two… or at least that was what it felt like.

"You knocked me out!" He said suddenly, glaring at Sonic, almost as surprised by the fact that Sonic would do that as by the fact that he had been able to.

"Yeah," Sonic said, suddenly sounding very tired, "God, Knuckles... for a moment I thought you were dead. I... I lost it again!" he cried, voice cracking. Knuckles' head cleared and he searched around, finally locating the plant he had dropped.

"Just eat this." he said wearily, holding it out. Sonic nodded, taking it without looking Knuckles in the eye. Slowly he chewed it up, making a face, and then swallowed with difficulty.

"Will it stop now?" Sonic asked sadly, trying to wipe some of the dried blood off of his face. Knuckles sighed, and replied,

"I hope so... sorry about slashing you like that." he gestured to Sonic's forehead, where the long cut ran diagonally from his right temple down to just above his left eye. Sonic nodded distractedly, and then said suddenly,

"Sorry for...everything. Oh, Knuckles, what have I done! You never tried to kill me, did you? Nor the others?" Knuckles grabbed his shoulders and said sternly,

"No, Sonic. None of us would EVER do that... we're your _friends_. It was just GUN, playing with your head... what do you remember?"

"Well, first I woke up in the GUN base. I couldn't remember anything, but they said I'd been there for three days, that I'd 'washed up on shore'. They asked me what happened. And then I remembered... I remembered... it wasn't real! None of it was real! God, why did I ever listen to those creeps for even a second!"

"Stay on topic, Sonic."

"Right, sorry. Anyway, I remembered... we were having a picnic," he spat the words out venomously, "At some cliffs. It was all peaceful and nice, and then suddenly you all turned on me. Tails and Amy grabbed me, and walked up to the cliff edge, and you were all laughing...said I'd pay for 'what I did'... and then..."

He broke off, staring at the leafy forest floor with fearful eyes. "Knuckles, it's so _clear_. It's just like it really happened!"

Knuckles nodded sympathetically, and said, "Continue..."

Sonic swallowed, and said, "Right. So, I believed them. I pledged to myself that I'd get back at all of you..." his voice wavered, but he continued, "and when they finally let me go... I kept feeling really angry at everything and didn't know why. I mean, I was upset, sure. But I kept feeling angry for no reason. When I got to Station Square... well, I reached Tails' house, and... I... I got _really_ angry, and-"

Suddenly he turned a faint green colour under his fur. Scrambling to his feet, he ran for the nearby bushes, and Knuckles heard him retching. The echidna shut his eyes and tried to block it out.

After a long moment there was silence. He slowly raised his head. Nothing. After a couple more minutes he lost his patience and trotted after Sonic. He emerged into a sunny clearing, and spotted Sonic sitting against a shady tree.

He had his knees drawn up to his chest and was hugging them, face buried in his arms, shaking slightly. As Knuckles walked over he said, voice muffled, "Go away."

Knuckles sighed to himself and sat down beside the hedgehog. "Sonic…"

"Go away!" This time the hedgehog's voice broke in the middle and he sniffed afterwards. Knuckles swallowed his pride and put an arm around Sonic's shoulders.

"Come on, Sonic, it's ok…"

"No, it's n-not! You don't know w-what I did…" Sonic broke off again.

"You can tell me, it'll make you feel better. I won't be angry… it's GUN's fault, not yours." Sonic suddenly dropped his knees and leant against Knuckles' side, clinging to his arm like a little kid.

"Really?" he asked, tears falling openly down his face. Knuckles steeled himself; he had never seen Sonic cry in his life. He swallowed hard.

"Go ahead."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When Shadow woke up, his eyes were already open. This worried him because it meant that not only had he been unconscious as opposed to asleep, but also he could remember closing his eyes as he hit the ground.

Hit the ground…?

Suddenly his memory came flooding back and he groaned inwardly. _Sonic! That little_… and then he remembered to look around. He was looking through some orange glass, and seemed to be floating, almost as though…

Oh no. No!

He tried to move, but found that he couldn't. Swivelling his eyes from side to side, he saw a great many wires and tubes connected to his body by plastic suckers.

_No_, he moaned silently, _no… no…_

Breathing the orange liquid was difficult, and making it hard to think properly. Through the glass he could see several people staring at him, holding clipboards. No! He wasn't some kind of lab experiment!

He tried his hardest to move and managed to raise his hands to the glass. He leant against it, breathing harder in the liquid. When he opened his eyes, the scientists were scurrying back and forth, yelling at each other, their words muffled by the glass.

Worried? Good. He convulsed slightly at a breath of liquid that didn't hold quite enough oxygen, and tried to think straight. So… he was in a large tank with no way out, could barely move, and was probably going to be experimented with until he didn't even know who he was.

It didn't look good.

But, he swore to himself as he floated helplessly, if he _ever_ got out, he was going to make Sonic suffer, long and hard.


	6. Relapsing

**Chaos: **Here's the next chapter, with some major characterisation-changes and a lot more description. Enjoy it! (grin)

**Oracle – **There's no telling what GUN will do…! (waves hands around mysteriously)

**Shadw – **Oh wow, thanks! What a lovely review! Well, here's the update…

**k0m0d0-342 – **Haha, I've finally found someone on the same wavelength as me! Except in my mind it's more… torture Sonic, give him a little break, torture him twice as much, slip in a plot twist, torture Sonic again…

**Celestial – **Thanks! It's nice to know that it's not too boring. There's more action in this chapter anyway. (grin)

**N.Harmonik – **Blergh, it's getting to the point that I can't remember the old insults! (laugh) Ok, here we go… Gruesome Unreliable Newts! How did all this get started? (sweatdrop)

**SallyTheRabbit – **Cool? You think? Well, there's plenty more coming… (evil laugh)

**SonicRules12 – **Yes, quite short, because I couldn't find a longer breaking-point. This chapter, however, is four pages, so that should make up for it. Heh heh.

**Max Fuchs – **Nobody likes Sonic apart from me… and I torture him continuously. Hmm, he must like me a lot. (laugh)

**Kirbs – **He is, isn't he? Don't worry, he's trapped in a little box right now. Hehehe…

**Animefangirl11 – **Hey, I'm glad you liked the soppy drivel! It's not something that often appears in my stories… unless you count perpetual ANGST. (cough)

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Knuckles was shell-shocked. Quite simply, he didn't know what to say. Sonic had just finished up telling him what he had done to Shadow, and then fallen deathly silent. Knuckles stared straight ahead, trying to co-ordinate his thoughts.

He'd never believe Sonic would _do_ that… to anyone. What the hell was this drug! He absentmindedly brushed his spines away from his face, wondering what to think. GUN… why would they want Sonic to attack his friends? To give him a nervous breakdown?

There was no advantage for them in that… maybe they wanted to capture and control them all, or get the Master Emerald. But what for? He dreaded to think; they had to get to New Island quickly, but there was no way, unless… he concentrated, staring fiercely at where the shrine was, and the island gave an almost imperceptible shudder as it stopped moving.

Sonic was hiccupping quietly and rubbing at the blood on his face now. Knuckles stood and Sonic looked up after him, a silent question in his eyes. The echidna offered a hand and, after a moment, Sonic took it.

Knuckles heaved him to his feet and steered him in the direction of the thinner trees. "Go wash your face…there's a stream over there." He gave Sonic a slight push and the hedgehog stumbled away, out of sight.

Knuckles looked critically at the sky, tapping his chin with the edge of his hand. They'd be just passing Station Square now… if this New Island was somewhere nearby, then he would have to send the island… this way.

Angel Island shuddered and set off southeast towards the sea.

Then Knuckles broke out of his thoughts to hear a twig snap behind him.

He was half-turning when something crashed into him, knocking him to the floor. He yelled out in surprise and anger, trying to shift the weight on top of him.

The conflict was short and sharp.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sonic rubbed the last of the dried blood off of his face and shook the icy water out of his eyes. He peered down into the clear water at the hedgehog that was staring back at him, and thought; what was he supposed to do now? How could he possibly forgive himself?

Then he heard a yell in the trees behind him, sharply cut off. He stood and looked round, flattening his ears as a sudden sense of doom hit him. "Knuckles?" He called; no response. He walked carefully back through the trees, seeking out the leafy path carefully. A minute later he reached the small clearing and froze.

The GUN retrieval team had caught up. Four humans were holding a gagged Knuckles, an arm or leg each, and three more were standing around. "Ggggrh!" Knuckles shouted angrily around the cloth, struggling wildly. One - wearing a long white coat - was holding a dart gun, attempting to get close to the echidna without him twisting around.

"Knuckles!" Sonic yelped, as the scientist aimed the dart at the echidna's neck. The men swung round, and the bright green dart fired straight at him. It hit him in the arm and he gave a small squeak, pulling it out.

A second later nausea overcame him and he dropped to hands and knees, gasping. As if from a long distance he heard a man ask, "Do we need him anymore?" Somebody else murmured a reply, closely followed by,

"Get him!"

His head started clearing and he looked up as two men advanced upon him.

Then an odd feeling rose inside him; he felt so… angry. Again! It was that unnatural rage. No! How dare they! His brow furrowed and he drew back his lips in a snarl, baring white teeth.

Knuckles recognised the odd light appearing in Sonic's eyes, and gulped. THAT was what they were going to inject him with! He gagged around the cloth, trying not to be sick at the thought of what it would have done to him, with the power of the Emerald at his disposal. Then the two men pointed their guns at the still-dizzy hedgehog.

"SONIC!" he yelled through the gag, it coming out as a muffled, "Srggg!" He thrashed twice as hard against the humans that held him, to no avail. Anger filled him, but it was controlled, calculated. His own. He could only think of one thing to do, and shut his eyes. The men holding him looked to each other in surprise; it seemed like he had just fainted.

They murmured suspiciously, and the other two looked around briefly, guns still pointed at Sonic, who had sense enough to remain still, eyes glittering slits of rage.

Then suddenly the four men were thrown away with cries of pain, green electricity coursing through their bodies. The other two spun round to point their guns at the sparking echidna. A big mistake.

With a scream of rage Sonic hurtled at their backs, hands outstretched. A second later he was ramming one, knocking him into the other. They both fell into a heap, Sonic atop them and snarling like a lion.

As they struggled, the remaining scientist approached, a tranquillizer dart in his hand – they had intended to knock out the echidna after infecting him with the maddening drug.

Knuckles ripped away the gag, and charged him from behind; silent, deadly. His fist connected solidly with the man's back and the scientist hurtled into the air in a blast of electricity, to land with a splash in the stream beyond.

Knuckles' eyes glowed green as he fought down the power of the Master Emerald, not wanting to lose control. When he blinked again, his vision back to normal, Sonic was shredding at the two men, who were trying desperately to run away after their comrades.

"SONIC!" Knuckles roared, leaping forward to grab Sonic by the scruff of the neck. The two men dashed away, yelling bloody murder, back to their helicopter.

Knuckles lifted Sonic as high as he could, so that the hedgehog's feet dangled off the ground, kicking helplessly. The hedgehog thrashed madly, trying to get round to face his attacker.

Knuckles swung him round and pinned him face-first against a tree, careful to stay out of kicking range. Sonic snapped and snarled, trying to get at the hand around his neck, his head twisted sideways and hands clawing uselessly at the tree trunk.

When the hedgehog realised he was stuck, he let out a long scream of rage to the sky, as Knuckles stared sideways at the floor, unable to look at him. Finally the scream died as the hedgehog ran out of breath and hung limply from Knuckles' grip, and the echidna chanced looking back.

Sonic's head drooped, eyes shut. He was panting heavily, out of energy and will. Knuckles slowly let go and he dropped to the ground in a heap of fur and limbs. The echidna sighed in exhaustion, and then stumbled away to the stream.

The scientist had run off after the others, leaving it peaceful, and he threw himself down on his front and gulped the ice-cold water, ridding his mouth of the oily taste of the gag. When he lifted his head again, gasping air, he felt much better, strength returning. Slowly he stood and went to find another plant.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Leave us _alone_!" Amy yelled at the scientists surrounding the glass box she was imprisoned in. Tails was lying flat on his back next to her, eyes wide and staring at the ceiling, remaining silent. He hadn't moved since Amy had awoken.

"Tails…!" Amy said exasperatedly, torn between checking on her friend and yelling at the scientists. Most of them were working at computer consoles, reading charts and data streams, but one was keeping an eye on them, taking notes endlessly.

"Let me OUT!" Amy screamed at the humans, pounding on the glass to no avail. They simply ignored her and continued running tests. Tails blinked once.

Then, outside the soundproofed box, the head scientist checked the reading and picked up a phone.

"Yes?" A voice snapped at the other end.

"We've finished the Chaos testing, sir. The fox does have some traces of Chaos Energy, probably from contact with the emeralds, but the hedgehog has almost nothing. What should we do?"

"Well, finish the testing and dispose of her. She's no use to us."

The scientist paused for a second, casting a doubtful eye on the pink hedgehog, who was now shaking her friend helplessly. "Yes, sir." He put the phone down and sighed, then walked to the box.

Opening a small grille, making the hedgehog's whimpering audible; he said clearly, "It's useless to do that. The fox is going through some kind of trauma. He won't snap out of it for some time...I'm sorry." Then he slammed the grille shut and marched to the main computer.

Inside the box, Amy burst into helpless tears.


	7. Redemption

**Chaos: **Ergh, I feel ill… so no harsh comments, my head hurts, okay?

**Max Fuchs – **Oo-er… keep him away from me! (sweatdrop)

**Celestial the Hedgird – **Ah, thanks! Considering I wrote this months ago, that's quite a compliment…

**Kirbs – **You really hate Amy, don't you? (laugh) Now would I ever kill anyone? … Don't answer that.

**k0m0d0 – **Yes, several people have remarked on a lack of originality for the plot. But hey, I wrote it ages - almost a year, now! – ago, and I figure everybody needs a story something like this. Plot development and all that. (grin) Besides, the endings is fairly different.

**ShadowedEchidna – **Why wouldn't I? I love violence! It's the mother of the perpetual ANGST which I love so much! (laugh)

**lady-of-destruction-aria – **Thanks! I like your name (no guesses why, heh) and I'm glad you like the story so much!

**Shadw – **Mmm, you may be disappointed then. In one of the cases, anyway. Not giving away any secrets! (smile)

**scgirl92 – **Ah, thanks! (grin)

**Animefangirl – **Oh, I do a lot of 'kill him! … Or not. NOW kill him! … Or not.' It's keeps people reading. (nodnod)

**Hieilover – **You mean Splat or Maternity? Thanks, anyway! I like when people read lots of my stories.

**-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-**

Sonic awoke to find himself sitting against a tree, Knuckles holding an ungloved hand against his hot forehead. When the echidna saw him staring, he withdrew his hand and held out a familiar plant.

"Eat." He commanded, and then strode away, out of sight. Sonic picked up the plant resignedly, and began chewing the leaves, ignoring the bitter taste and trying to work out what had happened.

He remembered telling Knuckles everything, and then going to the stream, and then hearing Knuckles' yell, and going, and the soldiers…and then everything was a haze of pain and fury. It was that drug again, he thought with a groan.

He slowly remembered what happened, and then leaned his head back against the trunk, so that he was staring up into the cloudless sky. A few minutes later a quiet voice spoke beside his ear, "Ok now?"

Sonic swallowed with difficulty and replied, "I think so. I'm so sorry, Red..." Knuckles sighed, ignoring the nickname for once, and replied,

"I know, I know...we're near the GUN island now, I think."

"New Island?" Sonic said in surprise, voice still hoarse from the screaming, "Why're we going there?" Knuckles looked sideways at Sonic, still staring at the sky, and said,

"Why do you think GUN put that poison in you?"

He let a minute for it to sink in, and then stood. "Come on, let's go find them." He walked off without looking back, and Sonic followed silently.

"Sir, Angel Island appears to have stopped close by the west side of the base. What should we do?" Officer Avery asked, staring out of the window at the motionless floating island and fiddling with the phone cord.

"Hmm...I suppose the hedgehog killed the echidna and the Master Emerald stopped moving the island. Shame; I would have liked to run tests on that animal. Well, send up a squad to retrieve the Master Emerald."

"Aye, sir." Avery hung up the phone and rapped out orders over the intercom. It was a shame he was not looking to the security videos, as he would have seen an odd blue and red blur go speeding across the screens and vault over the high wire fence.

Sonic hit the ground with a jarring thump which knocked Knuckles' breath away. Almost as suddenly, he shot away and through the open base door, down several corners, and then sideways into a room.

Knuckles looked around, panting, and was thankful to find the room empty; it was some kind of weapons storage. He rolled out of Sonic's arms and staggered up, still gasping.

When he finally got his breath back, he swallowed, and said, "Never, _ever_, carry me again." Sonic grinned with a hint of his former cheerfulness and replied,

"Too fast for you, Red?"

"Don't call me that." Knuckles responded automatically as he scanned the room for security cameras. He found none and peered into the corridor. Empty. He pulled the door shut and turned back to the hedgehog, to find him staring at an electronic map.

He was frowning and flattening one ear, a sure sign of confusion, and when Knuckles approached he saw why. The map was a scrawling maze of lines, often criss-crossing over, with thousands of different symbols.

"Hmm..." Sonic muttered, for once at a loss for words. Knuckles' commanding instinct took over and he said briskly,

"Right. Take the best suited weapons in here, we'll split up and go around checking all the rooms. And set the guns to _stun_." He gave Sonic a sideways look. The hedgehog stuck his nose in the air with an offended look, but said nothing and crossed to the other side of the room, poring over the lasers.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Knuckles sidled along the corridor wall to the door, then hopped in front of it quickly. The motion sensor blipped and the door slid up smoothly, reminding him of the doors on ARK. He looked inside, hefting the laser gun.

The room was large and white, and full of machines. There were several scientists standing around, attention firmly fixed on a large tank in the centre of the room. Knuckles stepped inside, forgetting caution in an attempt to see.

It was full of an orange liquid...though it seemed almost luminous. It was a second later that Knuckles realised electricity was coursing through it steadily, lighting up the room. Several scientists were scribbling on notepads, blocking his view of the tank.

Silently he sidled to one side, and then suddenly a scientist moved and his view of the tank was clear. He gasped loudly, but thankfully the humans did not notice. Shadow was suspended inside the tank, twitching limply, eyes screwed up in pain.

A great many tubes were attached to his body, keeping him in place, but even as Knuckles watched he managed to raise both hands on to the glass, mouth open in a soundless cry of agony.

When Knuckles managed to get over his shock, the scientists had turned off the electricity. Shadow immediately drooped and half-opened his eyes, trying to curl up protectively. The tubes swayed in the liquid, keeping him upright, and he shed tears of pain into the liquid, where they hung like tiny air bubbles.

Knuckles noticed that there were many other 'bubbles' floating in the tank, and wondered just how long this had been going on. Rage filled him, cold and unforgiving.

The scientists finished scribbling, and one remarked, "His tolerance is quite amazing...turn up the voltage again, Spencer." The scientist, 'Spencer', pulled on a handle, pulling it further into dark red.

A small label next to the dial read 'life threatening'. Next to it was a heart monitor, showing very fast heartbeats, bleeping almost continually.

"Hands up, all of you!" Knuckles cried as another human prepared to start the electricity. The scientists spun round, and quickly raised their hands into the air at sight of the laser.

"You people make me sick!" Knuckles spat, not noticing one human pressing a button under the desk. Then he opened fire, knowing the gun was set to stun. But the scientists didn't know that; they ran around in terror, trying to evade the gunfire. But Knuckles was a good aim, and in a matter of seconds the men lay around the floor, unconscious. He ran to the tank and raised one fist carefully.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Shadow's world was dark and pain-filled. He loathed the wires and the scientists beyond, but for now he was helpless. All he could think of was what he would do to them, and Sonic, when he got free; that was all that kept him going.

For now the electricity had stopped, but at any minute it would begin again, ten times worse. He had no idea how long it had gone on for; it seemed like forever. Suddenly the liquid around him shuddered as a deafening boom shook the tank and his head throbbed painfully.

He struggled to look up, a tube digging uncomfortably into the back of his head just where Sonic had hit him. Then another boom sounded, sending a second wave of pain through his head, pounding behind his eyes.

What was this new torture!

Suddenly the next boom came, and with it a crunch. Then a much louder crunch, and suddenly he was falling forward, liquid of the tank surging away and carrying him with it.

His legs hit the floor with a jarring thump, sending a wave of agony through his already-bruised skin. He bit back a scream, determined not to show any more weakness in front of these monsters. The tank must have emptied, but the wires were holding him in place, swaying almost comically, his legs dragging along the floor.

He coughed weakly, eyes still screwed shut. Someone was moving at his side, and then a sharp pain shot through his arm.

He swallowed a whimper, and tried desperately to snap at the person, wires pulling him back. A stern voice buffeted his ears, "Hold still, Shadow. I'm getting these tubes off." Several more needle-like pains ripped at his side as more tubes were pulled away.

He winced unconsciously, and slowly opened his eyes, vision blurry after long contact with the liquid. He blinked rapidly, and then tried to look up. A large hand fell across his vision, to his forehead, and another spear of pain ripped into him.

He shut his eyes, preferring the darkness. It seemed like an eternity later that he dropped to the ground on his side, finally free. He opened his eyes again, blinking away the glaring colours and trying to work out what he was looking at. Someone gently placed an arm underneath him, lifting him up.

He tried to speak, then retched and vomited out a large quantity of the orange liquid. He took a shuddering breath, and coughed violently. Finally he managed to speak, and croaked out, "Just kill me."


	8. Causing chaos

**Chaos:** Okay, I officially wrote this a year ago! I'd better hurry up with the updating. Though it's nearly done now, you'll be glad to hear (or perhaps not). Onwards!

By the way;

I hear a rumour that review responses are no longer allowed, and I step back and point at the screen in horror. I go on holiday for three weeks, that's all, and _this_ happens? Hah!

But now, I've just spent the last 15 minutes scouring the FAQ and Terms of Service, not to mention the latest updates. I've found nothing saying this, so on with the responses!

**Kirbs – **Indeed. I used to hate her myself. Now I've minimised that to include her in my stories and attempt to do her justice. Though it has been pointed out that she does not get an important role. (cackle)

**Yume Keki – **I was on holiday! Don't be mean!

**K0m0d0-342 – **Hey, you want a more violent story? I have plenty. Perhaps not posted… well, anyway, this isn't a hugely violent story in the end. I wrote it a year ago, when this strange lust for torture and ANGST wasn't present. (cough)

**Shadw – **Eheh… yeah. I'm a bit mean to Shadow…

**Ted – **Well, I'm glad _somebody_ thinks so. (laugh)

**Red Mage Moogle – **Thanks! And why use a shield? Glomping is fun! For me! (cough)

**Animefangirl11** – Thanks! It would, wouldn't it…? (cackle)

**Purplish111 – **I'm glad that you're so in tune with my story! Thank you! (grin)

**Tarem – **You're back! Haha! (glomp)

**Jessica the Hanyou – **Are you reading the plot for this or something? (laugh) I just love writing Sonic going mad…

**ShadTikal4ever – **Uh, thanks. (sweatdrop, grin) I found it quite hard to put Knuckles in character while shooting everybody, if I remember rightly…

**Speed-To-Sonic – **Look! I have! It's a miracle! (laugh)

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Just kill me." Shadow choked out in a voice very different to his usual calm tones. Knuckles lifted him higher, trying to get him on his feet. The black hedgehog swayed dangerously, eyes half open, trying to work out what was happening.

Suddenly Shadow's legs gave out and he tumbled forward. Knuckles immediately shot an arm out to support him and Shadow whimpered pitifully at the contact with his burned skin.

Then came a shout from outside. "In here! He must be after Project Shadow!" Knuckles' head snapped up to the door and he growled angrily. Many feet pounded outside; too many for him to handle while protecting Shadow at the same time.

He looked around nervously, and his eyes fell upon the small glass window in the far wall. "Shadow, listen to me." he said, looking into Shadow's eyes. The hedgehog blinked tiredly but he managed to nod, slowly registering the animal before him.

"Now, this is going to hurt, but trust me. I _will_ get us out of here, ok?" Shadow nodded again, will to live reasserting itself. With that Knuckles lifted the hedgehog easily; he didn't seem to weigh anything.

Then he took a running leap at the window.

The first of the soldiers burst into the room in time to see the window shatter outwards with a crash that only half-covered up Shadow's scream of pain.

Sonic finished firing, and looked around. The soldiers were all unconscious, leaving the room quiet. He was about to leave, when a human groaned. He suddenly had an idea, and bounded into the room.

He lifted the unfortunate human to a sitting position by his collar, and hissed, "Where're Tails and Amy?" The man blinked confusedly, registering the laser barrel pointed at his forehead.

"The fox and hedgehog? Corridor 3B, second door on your left." he muttered dizzily.

"Thank you." Sonic replied politely, before stepping back, shooting the man in the chest, and dashing away. The corridors passed quickly, and he finally reached a door labelled, 'Research'. He swallowed hard and opened the door, not sure what he wanted to see.

The room was almost empty. The scientists had left some time ago, and the glass box contained only Tails, still staring at the ceiling. Sonic dashed to the box, hovering over the fox's head, and cried, "Tails! Tails, are you ok?"

Tails' eyes slowly began to focus on him, but when he spoke Sonic couldn't hear anything. He looked from side to side, and then saw the locks on one side of the box. He carefully aimed the laser, and in a moment the locks were melted away, and he heaved open the lid.

Tails was saying, "Sonic? That you?" His voice was slow, as though he had just been deeply asleep, and his eyes showed no fear of the hedgehog. It struck Sonic suddenly; he didn't remember.

When he thought of what he could have been like...he shuddered. Traumatized? Terrified? Angry! It seemed that he had simply blocked it out somehow.

He lifted Tails out of the box and hugged him tightly, blinking back the tears that were welling up in his eyes. "I'm glad you're ok." he said quietly, knowing that Tails wouldn't know what he meant.

"Where are we?" Tails asked, blue eyes bewildered.

"We're...in a GUN base."

"GUN!"

Sonic nodded, and then suddenly said urgently,

"Tails, do you know where Amy is?" The fox screwed up his face in concentration, trying to remember what seemed like a dream he hadn't paid attention to, and then finally muttered,

"Took her…cliffs…"

Sonic's blood ran cold.

………………………………………………

Knuckles assured himself that Shadow would be safe behind the bushes, the hedgehog having passed out a moment before. Then he turned back to the base, in time to see movement by the far cliffs.

He squinted in confusion, checked on Shadow one last time, and then jogged towards it.

………………………………………………

Sonic rushed out of the first exit he reached, Tails safely in his arms; the vulpine still too confused to move. No sooner had he seen the cliffs nearby then he froze again, mouth moving silently.

He recognised those cliffs.

Suddenly the memory was clearer than ever before, blotting out his vision.

He was standing at the edge…no, not standing, two soldiers were holding his arms, tied behind his back. He was kicking furiously, yelling with a mixture of emotions. Surprise. Horror. Anger.

Fear.

A soldier had Amy's face, and then a blank space, and then a twisting mass of colours. Sounds swirled around him as two conflicting memories merged into one. His friends' laughter mingled with the shouts of the officers, the crying seagulls blurred into the crash of the waves far below.

Then they hurled him outwards, over the edge, crashing against the rocky walls on the way. Pain stabbed through him at every hit and he screamed the entire way down as both memories became identical. Then he hit the ocean head first, the shock of the cold water threatening to knock him out cold.

He sank down into the depths, head spinning, and a stream of bubbles rising above him. By the time he thought to kick back up he was seeing stars, and the surface was a twinkle far above. He had barely covered half of it when he ran out of air, and his last impression was of an arm reaching down to grab his quills.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled, tugging at his shoulder.

He snapped back into it and swallowed hard, suddenly realising what GUN had done to him. His head was pounding furiously. "Those-" he began, intending to curse, but the words stuck in his throat when he saw who was standing at the edge.

He dropped Tails without even realising.


	9. Climax: Chaos Inferno

Chaos: Well. This story now appears to me to be foolish and horribly-written… but since I finished it so long ago, I really ought to finish it here, huh? (I was under the impression that nobody was reading it, but then Ryuko reviewed, so darn it I said, I'll have to update). I've yanked the chapters up to five pages, so another two or three should finish it, and good riddance too!

And, through some pain-staking effort of will, it's also unedited beyond paragraph breaks. Lo and behold the writing of CF over a year ago! Marvel at the terrible phrasing and description! (laughs) Yes, I know I shouldn't put down my own work so much. But really. I cringe at this story now.

The 'no review responses rule' sucks. I love you all, my reviewers! (If there really are any of you still there).

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Knuckles was running full-tilt towards the cliff where the soldiers were. Two of them were holding Amy by the arms, the rest quickly loading guns. He was too far; they would fire by the time he got there!

Then something shot past him. Something fast.

Sonic hurtled towards the men, eyes wide with…could it be fear? Knuckles lengthened his stride, trying his best to catch up.

The soldiers were aiming their guns, Amy doing her best to break free, when Sonic dashed up. "Nooo!" he cried at the top of his voice. Five soldiers spun round; five guns fired instinctively.

Sonic's progress was immediately halted as he tumbled head-over-tail, barely noticing pain in an attempt to reach Amy. He was halfway through standing again when a heavy foot fell upon his back, pinning him to the floor.

"What's this?" Officer Avery asked in mock surprise, grinning.

"Murderer! Liar!" Sonic yelled furiously, before the man stamped down harder, crushing his breath away. The GUN soldiers looked questioningly towards Avery, who commanded,

"Kill the girl."

The soldiers nodded and began loading their guns again, Avery grinning down at a helpless Sonic, whose head was starting to spin. He grabbed a handful of the hedgehog's quills and dragged him away, back to the base.

Then Knuckles arrived.

With a roar of anger he charged the men, who turned, saw a demon, and froze. Knuckles' eyes were like fire, his spines standing slightly away from his head, blood-red fur on end. He looked like a monster.

In a split second he had fired his gun twice and dropped it, then leapt at the two men holding Amy. They immediately dropped her and ran, yelling. Knuckles bounded after them to a safe distance, then swung around to where a human was dragging Sonic away.

Avery had just reached the wall of the base, Sonic kicking weakly, but when Knuckles charged at him he dropped the hedgehog and ran. Knuckles knelt down beside Sonic, who was struggling to get to his feet, and said,

"Sonic, don't, you've been shot! You need to get to a hospital!"

"Amy," Sonic gasped out, eyes wide, "Amy!" Knuckles turned to see Avery once again at the cliff edge, framed by the late afternoon sun, dangling Amy over. The hedgehog was kicking and yelling over empty space.

"Well, looks like I've won after all!" Avery cried, grinning widely. Then he let go and Amy disappeared with a scream.

"AMY!" Sonic yelled, trying to get to his feet. One of his legs was useless, and pain ripped through his chest when he breathed. Knuckles forgot him and ran for the cliff, preparing to jump.

Avery burst out laughing, pointing his gun to Knuckles' head and stopping the echidna in his tracks, only halfway there.

Then Sonic's emotions overflowed. Maybe it was some remnant of the drug, maybe it was the pain from the bullets, but suddenly something inside him seemed to snap. Sorrow. Fear. Pain. Anger. Betrayal. A thousand other feelings burst out in a huge shockwave and the world disintegrated into white light and noise.

Knuckles heard the bang of the gun, and then a second later saw the bullet, not a centimetre from his face, suddenly freeze. Everything became still and silent for a single split second before...

There was nothing.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next thing Knuckles knew, he was headfirst in the sea, and swallowing salty water. He righted himself and bobbed to the surface like a cork, spitting out the seawater. He shook his head violently, trying to work out what had happened.

He looked around, and heard a similar splash to his own. Amy let out a gurgling cry of shock and sank beneath the heaving surface. Knuckles took a deep breath and dived after her, pulling her to the surface.

She clung to him like a limpet, gasping the air, eyes wide with fright. "W-What happened?" She asked, shivering.

"I don't know," he replied, "But we'd better find a way out of here." He ducked down, and then kicked up as hard as could, for an instant shooting out of the waves like a red dolphin, and looking around. He fell back and pulled up a struggling Amy.

"This way!" he cried, helping her swim along in the black waves.

It seemed like an eternity later that they reached the bottom of the cliffs of New Island. Knuckles flopped onto his back, sweat trickling down his face from the effort of carrying both of them.

Amy was the first to scramble up, casting her gaze over the bulk of the cliffs, and then to Angel Island, hovering beyond. The sky was darkening; evening was coming. "There's a path!" She cried suddenly, pointing up.

Knuckles looked up wearily, and then rolled onto his front. "Well, go up it then." he groaned, shutting his eyes wearily.

"Knuckles!" Amy accused angrily, "Sonic's up there somewhere! Not to mention Tails! If we don't go up now it'll be too dark." Knuckles muttered something she couldn't quite make out, and then heaved himself up.

"I swear you hedgehogs will kill me one of these days." he muttered angrily, before striding stiffly away to the path, Amy following.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Tails was hanging off the cliff.

His fingers were clinging onto a ridge on the edge, the rest of him kicking over space. His eyes were wide with fright; he did not have enough energy to fly. "Somebody help!" he cried helplessly, trying to keep his grip; his fingers were hurting, and a cut on the side of his face was stinging maddeningly.

He finally managed to catch a small ledge with his foot, and clung to the rock face a little more safely. He was still trying to work out what had happened; he had been at the edge of the base, starting to stand up, and some man had dragged Sonic over towards him.

Then Knuckles had run up and the man had doubled back to the cliff. He was trying to stumble over to Sonic; something was wrong, he could tell. Then Sonic let out a horrible scream and something had hit him so hard that...

...then he didn't know. He had suddenly found himself clinging to the cliff. Too much was happening; he had been in his house and then...something bad had happened. He couldn't remember.

He decided to concentrate on climbing up the cliff; his energy was returning, a little. He scrambled up a bit, wishing he wasn't hanging off a bulge. Finally he managed to get his front half over the edge...but there he stuck, energy gone.

Then somebody grabbed his hand. He looked up weakly as somebody tried to tug him over the edge. Shadow looked like he had been run over with a lawn mower, and one of his legs was almost crushed.

"Sorry, I couldn't get to you before," he rasped, "A rock was on my leg." With one last heave Tails was on solid ground and Shadow collapsed backwards, using his hands to push himself up. The fox finished panting and took a second look at Shadow; his fur was ruffled to the point of being ripped away, and he was covered in dried blood and small pieces of glass.

Shadow saw him looking and mumbled, "I'm fine." His face looked drawn, as though he were in pain but not showing it. Tails' eyes were popping.

"D-Did GUN get you too?" he stammered.

Shadow gave him a funny look. "No...Sonic did."

"Sonic!" Tails yelped, hardly able to believe it. Shadow suddenly looked at him differently, as though staring straight through him. After several long moments he murmured,

"Forget I said anything, kid. Yeah, GUN got me." Then he staggered to his feet and began limping away, almost falling. Tails scrambled after him and shouted,

"Wait! Do you need any help?"

"No," Shadow replied firmly, "I'm fine." But even as he said it, a funny shudder ran through him and he staggered suddenly. Tails caught up and put a hand on his shoulder, steadying him.

"Are you _sure_?" he asked doubtfully. Shadow suddenly glared at him, and he shrank down slightly.

"I said I'm _ok_!" he hissed angrily, pushing Tails away.

"Well...I'm not." Tails said desperately. Shadow gave him a long stare, but didn't complain when Tails followed him. And when he stumbled again, it seemed the most natural thing in the world for Tails to support his shoulder like a living crutch, speeding up their progress immediately.

They finally ascended the slope that led down to the cliff and Tails gasped.

The entire base was literally crushed, chunks of metal and concrete spread everywhere in a huge heap. "W-What...what...?" he stuttered, eyes wide.

Shadow looked ahead indifferently, waiting for Tails to finish staring. Then he said quietly, "Your friends are over there." He pointed shakily and Tails followed his gaze to see a smudge of red and pink on the opposite side of the island.

He waved and called, and Amy waved back. He turned back to Shadow, who was glaring at the base angrily. "What's wrong?" he asked nervously. The hedgehog muttered something he couldn't make out, and then fell silent.

Then he heard running feet and Amy practically threw herself at him. He staggered uncomfortably as she squealed, "Tails! You're awake! Are you ok? What happened?" At this sudden barrage, quite different from Shadow's short responses, Tails found himself quite unable to reply.

"I...I...wha...?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Knuckles heaved a slab of concrete to one side, near where he thought Sonic had been. The entire island was buried under almost a metre of crushed building at least, and he had dug down almost his own height and not found anything.

_It's because there's nothing to find_, a voice in the back of his head warned_, it's because he's dead_. Knuckles thought back, _no, he's not, because if I survived it then so did he_.

_Ah_, the voice replied, _but he was right at the centre. He's dead. Dead, dead, dead_.

"Shut up." Knuckles growled angrily to himself, heaving aside another rock and avoiding some sparking wires. He still wasn't sure what had caused the explosion - or shockwave, as it looked like - but he had a nasty feeling Sonic was something to do with it.

It was a few seconds later that the rocks started disintegrating at his feet. He jumped back with a cry of surprise as a white light began shining below, and then he scrabbled at the edges, pulling away the larger rocks. He had dug down twice his height, Tails and Amy watching from the edge of the small crater.

Suddenly the rocks were gone, and a bright burst of light smashed into him, sending him flying backwards out of the crater, into Tails and Amy. He jumped up with a yell of, "What the hell!" Then he hopped down and he was looking at Sonic.

Face down. Unconscious. Glowing. Almost too bright to look at.

In Hyper form.


	10. Supernova

Chaos: (jaw drops) Ten reviews? Ten reviews for the last chapter! Unbelievable! Alright, alright, I'm a bit hard on my own writing. That's my way of improving, I guess. But really. I'm not at all satisfied with this story. It's character biased, OOC in places, and the description is quite lacking in several scenes.

But it's not too bad compared to some of my older ones I guess – the flow is good, the plot… exists, and it's not overly cliché. And so the updates continue (though should they be called updates when the actual story was finished almost a year ago?). One more bumper!chapter, and then I kick this story into the closet and stamp 'complete' all over it. (laughs)

I'm glad people are still enjoying it, though. Thank you for that. (grin)

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Knuckles leapt away smartly, half-expecting Sonic to go shooting into the sky. Sonic had sworn never to go Hyper again; the last time it had almost killed him...it required almost all the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and was too much energy; it ate at a person's soul and was incredibly difficult to control.

Knuckles had once said that you had to give part of yourself to neutralize it, to stop yourself going crazy. He had read hundreds of ancient echidnaen texts about it; no person had survived it more than once without becoming a power-crazy demon.

How long had Sonic been Hyper for? An hour? Two? He gulped nervously and backed out of the crater hurriedly. There was only one hope; if Sonic was unconscious then it might not affect his mind. He hoped. And how on earth had he managed to go Hyper with the Chaos Emeralds? They were on Angel Island, far above...

Knuckles didn't know how, but he wasn't sure he wanted to find out either. Sonic's snow-white fur rippled in waves of Chaos Energy, bursting out in small shockwaves whenever the charge built up enough.

Of course; the explosion was obvious now. When Sonic went Hyper forcibly, his body would have released a large shockwave at the sudden overload of energy as the Emeralds activated...demolishing anything nearby.

At any minute he could wake up and then...Knuckles shuddered. They had to get him normal, quickly. And the only way to do that was the Master Emerald.

Now, he could move Sonic, and risk him waking, or move the Emerald, and let the island fall. To sink into the sea, gone forever.

It was no choice.

He warily walked back into the crater, ready to leap back at any second. He motioned for Tails and Amy to back off, and extended a hand to touch Sonic's arm. In a milisecond the ripples of Chaos Energy shot up to his palm and through his glove.

With a yelp of pain, he yanked his hand away, shaking little bright sparks of Chaos Energy off of it. Tails sent him a concerned look as he angrily muttered, "Damned residual charge..."

He braced himself and grabbed Sonic's arm, tugging him out of the crater. The hedgehog was surprisingly light...light enough to fly in the air, Knuckles reminded himself. As he reached the edge Sonic bumped off a small rock and, sure enough, stayed hovering for a second before drifting down.

Then the echidna snatched his hand away, rubbing at it until the tingling subsided. "This will take a while." he said aloud, trying not to think about actually getting Sonic onto the Island.

When he touched Sonic again the shock was larger; in the time he had let go the charge had built up. He snapped his hand away and cursed, resisting the urge to kick Sonic; it was tempting, as it would not harm the hedgehog, but the shock would attack his foot instead.

Then somebody else touched Sonic's other arm. The shockwaves rolled up, but Shadow wasn't shocked. Rather, the charge was absorbed into him. Knuckles goggled at him, hardly believing it.

Shadow looked back, and said, "Healing myself...sorry." Sure enough, the marks were fading, fur regrowing where it had burned away. Knuckles' brain immediately burst into action.

"Of course...you can channel Chaos Energy." he muttered aloud, and Shadow nodded assent. Knuckles suddenly grinned, eyes narrowing dangerously. Tails and Amy recognised the look and backed away quickly. Shadow, not understanding, was looking at them in confusion when Knuckles spoke again.

"I have a plan."

A few minutes later Shadow had laid both hands on Sonic's white quills, channeling the energy. His quills suddenly turned lighter and brighter until- Super Shadow stood before them, hovering slightly.

The second he let go of Sonic, however, his quills faded and flickered. But this suited Knuckles just fine, and Super Shadow was soon grumbling under his breath as he lifted Hyper Sonic into the air, turning towards Angel Island.

He couldn't harm Hyper Sonic right now...but he would take him to the Emerald, if only so that he would be normal again...

...and vulnerable again.

It was at that second, as though the hedgehog was sensing his thoughts, that Sonic's eyes snapped open, bright green and pupil-less. Knuckles cried out in warning, and Shadow was just looking down when he was suddenly flying through the air in the opposite direction.

"Dammit!" he yelled as the ground rushed up at him, his fur turning yellow. With a bruising crack he met the ground, bouncing a few times; thankfully still invincible enough for it to not hurt.

Hyper Sonic spun round in the air, shooting away backwards to a safe distance, regarding them all quickly. Knuckles slowly took a step forward, and then another, hoping to get within speaking distance.

No such luck. Hyper Sonic backed away in the air, aura sending small sparkles of light, regarding the guardian warily. Knuckles took another step. It was a mistake. Hyper Sonic's hand shot up, almost too fast to follow, to point at Knuckles.

In a second the echidna was thrown back by a blast of white light. He crashed into a rock quite a distance away, and cursed violently, struggling up again. Hyper Sonic's gaze passed away from him and onto Amy, who hastily started moving away.

In a flash he had flown - or perhaps warped - up to her, purposefully drifting down to eye level, as she struggled not to look at his eyes; they sucked the life out of her, and she couldn't look away. He was scrutinising her carefully now, eyes narrowing.

Tails took Amy's wrist carefully, trying to pull her away lest Hyper Sonic decided to attack. Hyper Sonic did not break his gaze on the hedgehog, but swished a hand up and to the side. In a blast of light Tails, too, was thrown aside.

Amy gulped, lost in the green eyes. Finally Hyper Sonic said, "Amy." His voice echoed strangely, as though he were in a large empty room. Knuckles held his breath; he recognised Amy, it seemed. That was a good sign.

"Amy. The girl." Again his voice echoed oddly, as Tails blinked confusedly and realised that he was holding his breath. Slowly Hyper Sonic turned to look at him, and Tails found himself immobilised by the gaze.

"Tails. The sidekick." Then to Knuckles. "The Guardian." To Shadow. "The other Channeler." Even Shadow was looking confused by this point, as Hyper Sonic swooped back into the sky, folding his arms and crossing his legs – sitting in the air.

"Ha! This is what the Channeler does with his time. When he could have as much power as he wanted." He raised a hand and a small white flower burst out of it, just as quickly disintegrating into tiny sparkles.

Finally Knuckles began to realise. "You're not Sonic!" he accused, "You're…the Chaos Emeralds?" he said the last bit with indecision in his voice, squinting at the white shape in the sky.

Hyper Sonic laughed chillingly.

"Yes. The Guardian realises…the Guardian, too, has some power." He shot out a hand and suddenly Knuckles fell backwards with a cry, feeling his energy draining in a stream of red light, shooting into Hyper Sonic's hand.

"Stop this!" Tails cried suddenly as Hyper Sonic smiled. "Stop using Sonic as a puppet!" Hyper Sonic lowered his hand and the stream cut off, leaving Knuckles panting.

He turned to Tails, eyes flashing. "You care too much. You have no power!" He raised a hand, a black orb shining there, and even from a distance Amy felt a tug of pain from it…and then-

_Tails!_ A voice, recognisably Sonic's, seemed to come from nowhere, Hyper Sonic's mouth not moving.

"What is this! Control the Channeler!" Hyper Sonic cried, the echo splitting somewhat into seven parts. For a second his hand jerked, enough to send the black orb shooting into the sky, away from Tails. Hyper Sonic glared round accusingly.

Then, as Knuckles looked down to avoid his gaze, he saw a tube, filled with a familiar green liquid, and had an idea.

Hyper Sonic frowned and said, "So…he is stronger than we thought…but nothing has more power than us!" His smile returned. He raised his hand again as Tails stood frozen by his eyes…

"Wait!" Knuckles cried. "I want to make a deal!" Hyper Sonic let the orb fade away and then turned slowly to face him.

"What could you possibly have that we would want, Guardian?" he asked, eyes piercing. Knuckles avoided his gaze and held up the tube.

"Power." he said simply, several more tubes lying in the rubble at his feet.

"What is this?" Hyper Sonic asked, half to the echoes that were the other Emeralds, as he clicked his fingers. In a millisecond the tube was floating in his hand, turning slowly. "The Channeler does not recognise it..."

"But no poison can hurt us!" he declared finally. Then the glass disappeared and the liquid inside was absorbed into his hand. A second later his aura increased a little and his eyes flashed triumphantly.

"Yes! This _is_ power! You speak truth." he glared at Knuckles, and then continued hungrily, "We must have _more_." He shot out a hand and the liquid shot from all around the rubble, as though pulled by invisible threads, flowing into Hyper Sonic, whose aura increased until it was impossible to look at him.

His voice was deafening, the echoes triumphant. "Yes, this is-" then it suddenly broke off. Tails felt an oncoming sense of doom and dropped to the rubble, turning away with Amy at his side.

"W-What iss th-is?" Hyper Sonic's voice was jerking as the echoes overlapped each other, and from beneath them rose a new voice.

_GetoutofmyheadGETOUTOFMYHEAD!_ Sonic's voice screamed angrily and the echoes were drowned out.

"Control him! Control him! CONTROL HIM!" the echoes cried to one another as they grew louder and the aura increased until it was like a small sun. Shadow shielded himself and Knuckles ducked as he waited for the full impact of the maddening drug to hit...

What came next was deafening.

_"AAAAAAAAAAA-_AAAAAAAAAAA_-AAAAAAAA-_AAA_AAA_AAAAHH_H_H!" Both Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds, through his body, screamed in unison, and suddenly Hyper Sonic rocketed into the sky, a dark hurricane of Chaos Energy behind him. The world was lost with a roar as Tails and Amy covered their ears, clinging to the ground, Knuckles crossed an arm over his eyes as his dreadlocks whipped behind him, and Shadow was surrounded by Chaos Spears as he tried to rid himself of the extra energy that suckered onto him like a leech.

Amy managed to look up, squinting through the hail of debris that was flying through the black maelstrom, and shouted something, words swept away by the howling wind. Knuckles lost his balance and fell back, rolling head-over-tail in the hold of the storm, before Tails threw out a hand and managed to grab a handful of his dreadlocks. He was very nearly swept away along with the echidna, locking his arm around a bent pipe firmly imbedded into the churning rubble.

It was finally too much for Shadow.

"…aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAACHAOSCONTROL!" he shouted over the wind as it rose to a deafening shriek, and the world was suddenly engulfed in green light.

Then there was nothing.

Amy uncovered her eyes and looked up slowly. The whirling storm had condensed into a tight spiral of red light, breezing gently around them, swirling towards the centre. Several sparks shot out of the depths and her fur crackled with static.

Tails' fur was also on end and had a red tinge. He looked up at a small circle of dark blue-purple that showed the sky above, wondering. "What's going on?" Amy asked, almost terrified of how loud her voice was in the sudden quiet.

The Chaos winds were sucking away to the centre, and soon they could see the ground again, the darkening sky above broken only by a thick trail of glowing Chaos Smoke from Hyper Sonic. Tails felt oddly energised, as though he had just had a long rest.

He grinned inwardly, remembering the energy-giving effect of Chaos Energy in power rings.

The last of the winds disappeared through Shadow's black fur as he hovered slightly, a grin of disbelief on his face, shimmering slightly...but not in Super Form - not while Sonic was Hyper.

He laughed for the first time since Tails could remember, and then disappeared with the brief flash of Chaos Control. Even without an Emerald, the Chaos Energy carried him away.

Amy let out a long sigh at his side as the sky darkened into night. Tails almost couldn't believe that it had only been a day since this had begun.

"Can we go home now?"


	11. Echoes and Epilogues

Chaos: Oh, I completely forgot to upload this last chapter. Anyway… it's done! Complete! Finished! Now we can never speak of it again! Ha, I jest. I'm glad it got finished, even if it's so hideously old that I cringe to read it. Thanks for sticking with it, anybody who's still there!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It was midnight when Angel Island drew to a halt over the glow of Station Square. Tails stood at the rocky edge, feeling oddly dizzy at the huge drop, Knuckles and Amy by his side.

"Here we are," Knuckles said with a yawn, "Now get lost. I'm going south and I don't want to hear from any of you for a month at least."

Amy laughed, stuck her tongue out at him, and then hopped into the hastily-repaired Tornado as Tails gently piloted it down to be properly fixed in his lab.

Knuckles waved until they disappeared into the darkness, and then turned for the shrine, setting a southern course and letting the Master Emerald choose the speed. He sighed exhaustion and finally made to the shrine, feet dragging.

He almost didn't notice when he passed the first body. But the green glow from the emerald reflected off the man's glasses and caught his eye.

"What!" he cried in surprise, noting the man's GUN badge. He poked him with his foot and the scientist let out a faint groan. Alive, at least. He looked around, noting several other unconscious bodies.

GUN must have sent up a squad to get the Emerald while he was away, but what had-

"Took your time." A familiar voice murmured from atop one of the broken pillars. Green eyes shone in darkness.

"Rouge!" Knuckles muttered, astonished. She dropped down, wings flaring to a safe landing.

"Well, someone has to keep an eye on the stupid thing, if you won't let me have it." She let out a tinkling laugh, folding wings and crossing arms in the darkness. Knuckles didn't know what to say.

"I...I..."

"How about, 'Thank you, Rouge, I owe you one, etc etc'?" she teased.

"Tha-thanks..."

"Heh. It wouldn't be fun to steal it without you around, echidna...like taking candy from a baby." She grinned, flashing sharp white teeth, before her tone became quieter. "Keep a better eye on it next time. I won't be so negligent in the future. See ya around!"

With an echoing laugh she soared away into the night.

Knuckles was left speechless.

The female newsreader shuffled the papers on her table and began; a small picture of a comet-like streak in the sky on one corner of the television screen.

"Hello, and welcome again to the Station Square 6.00 News!

For six days now the aptly named 'Ultrasound Star' has being cruising the Earth's stratosphere. Scientists are still unable to identify this strange occurrence, but have stemmed it from a root of Chaos Energy - It appears to take a random course, though recently linked to the pattern of Chaos Frequencies.

It once came low over Station Square, the high-frequency sound vibes shattering over ten thousand windows, felling a building and causing nearly a million pounds worth of damage. Thus it was nicknamed the 'Ultrasound Star'.

It is a complete mystery as to where this unknown came from, but theories have suggested an alien spaceship, an unusual meteor, or even a rocket.

However, in new evidence, scientists have managed to trace the energy signals back to New Island, recently a GUN base, but destroyed soon before the star's appearance. The GUN organisation, previously serving under the Military, has disbanded and refuses to give information.

In other news, world-renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog is still missing, suspected trave-"

Amy Rose clicked off the television with a snort of disgust. "Still haven't made the connection between Sonic and the Ultrastar." she grumbled, reaching for a magazine with a sigh.

Sonic's Chaos Energy would have to run out soon - she had never known it to last nearly so long before. The glossy pages of the magazine held no interest for her, and she tossed it aside with a quiet groan of frustration.

"Don't worry, Amy. I'm sure he'll be fine." Cream spoke by her shoulder, Cheese burbling comfortingly in her ear.

"Yeah, I hope so." Amy sighed again, remembering when - four days before - Tails had tried to rewire the Chaos Locater to drag Hyper Sonic down, and back to normal. The fox had stood atop a skyscraper, holding up the tiny machine, as the far-off 'star' burned past overhead. Hyper Sonic had dipped so low he had almost grazed the tops of the buildings, before he broke away.

The resulting explosion was enough to put Tails, at the centre of it, into hospital. He had been found, miraculously still alive, under tons of rubble from the fallen building he had stood atop, in a kind of daze.

When he had seen her he had only said, with a small smile, "I remember...he showed me. He's...sorry."

Then he had stared into space and not said a word.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

_two days later_

In the sky, a burning streak had orbited the earth sixteen times. With a howl of Chaos Energy reaching a pinnacle, the streak shot upwards, almost breaking through the atmosphere before-

It finally burned out.

Nobody saw a dark shape plummet down.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The island was small, or at least as small as islands go. It was the width of, perhaps, a few houses in a line and nearly circular. Several trees climbed out of the middle, and a small spring bubbled up into a stream that wound down into the sea. There were no inhabitants, except for small birds and the insects they ate.

All that was about to change.

One such bird landed on the soft grass beside the stream, quick bright eyes darting around for the dragonflies that often hovered over the clear water. Finding none, it spread its wings to try further upstream and-

And then its world ended as a shape fell from above, from the stars.

As it hit, a massive bang shook the island from the centre out, closely followed by a huge white shockwave that burst away and over the sea. When it had faded, the island was no more.

The ground had been burnt down to the ground, coated with grey cinders from what had previously been trees and plants. It was instant destruction; ash ran an inch deep, the entire island dark with it. A sooty cloud hung over, slowly settling and turning the ground from grey to jet-black.

As black as the animal at the centre, cause of the explosion.

Sonic slowly lifted his head, eyes struggling to focus on the sight before him. His fur was burnt black from the upper atmosphere, and he could hardly believe that he'd made it at all. It had been a long and difficult fight against the Emeralds, especially so when he had been pulled down to Station Square.

Then he had fought hard to finally get a chance to speak to Tails, to say sorry, in case he lost after all...

He had suffered for it afterwards.

Slowly he rolled onto his back, energy almost completely spent. The dust cloud settled and blue sky spread above him, sun glinting from the corner of his vision. He grinned lopsidedly and whispered,

"I'm free."

Then his eyes rolled back and his head slumped to the side as he fell unconscious, not noticing the dark shadow that dropped over him.

_This is... this is..._, but Shadow had no words for the sight before him. The knife in his left hand quivered a little in shock...no, surprise. He was not shocked, but... _this should be easy... after what you've done to me, Sonic... what you've put me through... killing you should be easy!_

Shadow was shaking slightly, fur shimmering a little as though caught in a breeze, hovering almost an inch off the ground from the long-lasting residual charge of the energy that he had absorbed.

He gritted his teeth and lifted the blade. Sonic's chest rose and fell once, almost undetectable under the black fur that had once been peachy. Shadow's hand quivered again and he felt like kicking himself.

_Do it now!_, he screamed to himself, but his hand stubbornly refused to obey. _He deserves it... he deserves to... for what he did... he..._ he let out a cry of anger and Sonic's eyelids fluttered a little.

Then a little voice in the back of his mind said, _hasn't he suffered enough?_ The rest of him was far stronger, and screamed, _no!_ ... But his hand still stayed firmly clenched around the handle and refused to budge.

The voice got stronger. _Look at him. Look. What do you see?_ Shadow looked contemptuously down at Sonic and said aloud, "I see a pathetic excuse for a hedgehog."

He sniffed scornfully.

_Precisely...look at what he's been reduced to_, the voice said stubbornly, _killing him would be a release...it would help him._ Shadow felt more confused than ever. "Shut up!" he replied angrily, putting a hand to his forehead.

Then he plunged the knife down and spun around, walking away far faster than he would normally have done. Then he turned around for one last look at black hedgehog against black ground, and raised the Chaos Emerald, which sparked briefly, almost angrily.

"Chaos Control!" he called out and the emerald sparked again with power. The scene faded and disappeared as he warped away and growled to himself,

_Stupid conscience._

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When Tails brought the Tornado down into a smooth landing, leaping out and closely followed by Amy and Cream, he almost didn't see Sonic against the black ground. The DNA tracker blipped twice in his hand as it traced Sonic's signal.

"He's dead!" Cream squealed as she saw the black hedgehog. Amy dashed forward and crouched for a minute beside him.

"No...still breathing!" she exclaimed, almost laughing from sheer relief. Tails was the only one to notice the knife buried up to its handle in black ashes, not a centimetre from Sonic's right ear.

But he soon forgot it as he steered the Tornado for home, Sonic safe in the back seat and Amy almost crying with the relief that Sonic was alive, and would be ok. Cream was smiling, ears whipping in the wind...

As they flew home.

And all over the world, the Chaos Emeralds glowed and sparked to one another where they had fallen after being forcibly blasted away; shocked at the willpower of the Channeler they had tried to control, shocked into obedience...

For now.

END


End file.
